Partnership Manager

ABOUT BERNIE’S BOOK BANK

Reading is the single most important skill a child needs to succeed in life. Yet too many children lack books, especially books of their own, in their homes.

At Bernie’s Book Bank, we’re here to change that. Driven by the belief that better futures begin with books, we hand-deliver free, high-quality books to children who need them most. We do this with the help of thousands of volunteers who believe there’s nothing more important than transforming children’s lives through book ownership.

Since 2009, we have hand-delivered more than 32 million free, high-quality books across Chicagoland, Greater Milwaukee and now Florida’s Suncoast. Our effective, scalable and sustainable model allows us to source, process and distribute eight books a year to children from birth through sixth grade, so they can build a home library of their very own and always have a book within reach.

Bernie’s Book Bank Florida Suncoast is entering an exciting second phase of growth. 2025 brought book distributions across Manatee and Sarasota counties, the formation of our Advisory Board, and multi-year funding secured to fuel our growth. Building on that, we are establishing our first Suncoast facility in late 2026. This milestone lays the foundation to scale from thousands of children served today toward the more than 340,000 qualifying children across the Suncoast in the years ahead.

POSITION SUMMARY

Bernie’s Book Bank is looking for an enthusiastic and dedicated team player to serve as our Partnership Manager, a key role in the second phase of Suncoast growth. The Partnership Manager owns three things for our chapter: our external community partnerships, our volunteer experience and our annual impact goals.

The partnership work covers both ends, the partners who receive books and the partners who help us source them. On distribution, that means owning our school district and individual school distribution partners along with our nonprofit and community partners, maintaining those relationships through year-round touchpoints, managing distribution scheduling and logistics, and serving as the link between district officials and Bernie’s Book Bank’s National book procurement team to ensure that all titles distributed in each county adhere to state guidelines. On supply, the Manager builds and runs our local book drop partner program and the volunteer-led book drives that bring used books across the Suncoast.

With volunteers, the Partnership Manager is typically the first impression a new guest gets of Bernie’s Book Bank. The goal is an experience good enough that people come back and bring others, and good enough that some of them become donors. The Manager owns volunteer-to-donor conversion and stewards a small portfolio of Giving Tree sustaining donors, carrying a small portion of the chapter’s revenue budget alongside peer-to-peer fundraising.

The Partnership Manager is also our local literacy and education expert. In collab

oration with the Operations team, this person owns the fulfillment of the chapter’s annual impact goals and serves as our resident authority on local impact data: who we serve, and the literacy and economic indicators that shape need across the Suncoast. The role tracks local and state literacy initiatives and legislation that affect our organization and the children we serve, carries enough standing to represent Bernie’s Book Bank Suncoast with district and state leadership and, when asked, with local media, and is empowered to build new community initiatives, on our own or with nonprofit partners, that grow the number of Suncoast children we can reach.

The incumbent must demonstrate passion about our mission to enable positive life experiences through books and book ownership, and inspire others to embrace it. While fulfilling these responsibilities, the Manager will be expected to maintain the integrity of Bernie’s Book Bank’s mission, culture, brand standards, core values and goals at all times.

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES

COMMUNITY IMPACT & PARTNER COMMUNICATIONS

• Implement and improve a plan to strategically and effectively communicate with all active/pending distribution partners.
• Build and maintain the pipeline of potential distribution partners to grow our program, ensuring partner enrollment meets the quarterly and annual impact benchmarks set by the Executive Director, adjusting scheduling and recruiting additional partners as needed to meet them.
• Own the chapter’s annual impact goals and serve as our local expert on impact data (children served, plus local literacy and poverty indicators), identifying new ways to grow our reach.
• Track local and state literacy initiatives and legislation and brief the Executive Director on developments that affect our work.
• Develop new community initiatives, independently or with nonprofit partners, that extend our impact beyond book distribution.
• Cultivate and steward nonprofit and community group partnerships across the Suncoast.
• Work collaboratively with the Executive Director and the Operations and Development teams to plan and coordinate distributions, and to schedule VIP distributions for donor stewardship.
• Facilitate communication throughout the book title approval process and ensure timely follow-through by all parties.
• Collect, enter, maintain and analyze data related to distribution partners in CRM.
• Lead annual kickoff meetings with each district partner, including presentations to principals and school leadership. Review any district-managed communications to parents, teachers and school leadership and ensure they accurately represent Bernie’s Book Bank.

VOLUNTEER MANAGEMENT

• Solicit, schedule and coordinate volunteers (individuals and groups) to ensure volunteer slots in the Processing Center are filled.
• Develop and manage volunteer information in CRM to leverage volunteer engagement.
• Steward and activate the 50-Hour Club, our volunteering affinity group.
• Coordinate volunteers/sessions to effectively meet production requirements for distribution commitments.
• Assist with volunteer recruitment for special events like Booksgiving, VIP distributions and more.

USED BOOK PROCUREMENT

• Manage used book procurement in the Florida Suncoast area: develop and lead the book drop partner program, recruit and manage volunteers to run virtual and physical book drives, and collaborate with Operations to perform field pickups and manage storage and shipping of used books as needed.
• Develop and manage book drop partners and community lead information in CRM to leverage engagement.

DEVELOPMENT SUPPORT

• Focus on volunteer-to-donor conversion, ensuring the volunteer and philanthropic experience is consistent, process-driven and positive.
• Manage a small portfolio of Giving Tree sustaining donors generated from the volunteer experience.
• Identify volunteers and partners in this role’s stewardship who could develop into donors or event sponsors, or otherwise become further engaged, and elevate them to the Development team.
• Generate queries and mailing lists for appeals, events and initiatives as requested.
• Support Development team by facilitating corporate volunteering and other volunteer groups with an exceptional volunteering experience.

PERFORMANCE MEASURES

Success in this role is measured against annual targets set with the Executive Director, including:

• Annual impact goal attainment — Suncoast children served against goal
• Distribution partner recruitment against goal, plus partner satisfaction and retention
• Book title approval turnaround time and first-pass approval rate
• Growth in nonprofit and community group partnerships
• New community initiatives launched and children reached through them
• Volunteer recruitment against goal and percentage of volunteer shifts filled
• 50-Hour Club membership and retention
• Used books collected against goal, plus growth of the book drop partner program
• Volunteer-to-donor conversion rate
• Giving Tree retention and growth
• Qualified prospects identified and elevated to the Development team
• Peer-to-peer fundraising revenue against goal

REQUIREMENTS

• Three to five years of professional experience.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.
• Experience working with volunteers and/or schools is preferred.
• Background in education, literacy or a related field, with working knowledge of Florida literacy initiatives, is strongly preferred.
• Credibility and presence to represent Bernie’s Book Bank with district and state leadership, community partners, and local media.
• Comfort working with data, able to interpret local literacy and demographic data and translate it into goals and stories.
• Organized, detail-oriented and system driven, with the ability to multitask and prioritize.
• Self-motivated, friendly, enthusiastic, team-oriented and a natural problem solver.
• Ability to learn computer systems and databases, including Microsoft 365, Salesforce and event-related software.
• Strong project management skills, including the ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines.
• Strong people skills, ability to speak with donors, school partners and event attendees in person and remotely.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, customer service, and interpersonal skills.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills.

WHAT WE OFFER

• Medical Insurance via BCBS, PPO and HMO options available, starting day 1
• Dental and Vision Insurance, starting day 1
• Hybrid work environment
• Employer-covered Long-Term Disability Insurance
• Short-Term Disability Insurance available
• 401(k) with match after 1 year
• Summer Hours (leave early on Fridays, Memorial Day–Labor Day)
• 17 days of PTO a year
• 4 floating holidays per year
• 9 paid holidays per year
• A passionate team with long-term growth potential as we begin national expansion

WORKING CONDITIONS / PHYSICAL DEMANDS

While performing the duties of this job, the incumbent will typically be working in an office environment and be required to sit, reach with arms and hands, talk and hear. May require lifting up to 25 lbs for event setup. Reasonable accommodations may be made for individuals with disabilities to enable them to perform the essential job duties.

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY

Bernie's Book Bank is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all qualified applicants and employees and do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, or any other status protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

ACCOMMODATIONS

Bernie's Book Bank is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities throughout the application and employment process. Applicants who require an accommodation to participate in the application or interview process may contact HR at [email protected]

We may use artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled tools to assist with certain aspects of the recruitment and candidate review process. AI may be used to support the evaluation of job-related qualifications and application materials. AI will not be used in a manner that discriminates against applicants based on protected characteristics, and all final employment decisions will be made by qualified individuals.

If AI is used in the evaluation process for this position, applicants will be provided with additional notice regarding its use and applicable rights.